ESSAY // Unusual, and Sometimes Cruel

Unusual, and Sometimes Cruel


Musicians and van-lifers can make the road look romantic. The reality of not having a home is always darker

by Sarah Vedder

EXCERPT //

“I’ve lived my life making choices that would allow me to be free. That freedom is my music. That is the thing that allows me to be inspired.”

Her dreams was to live in out in the desert in an old Toyota Dolphin RV, but the engine caught fire in Liberty, Missouri, and she ended up in a small one-bedroom at an art residency with her boyfriend. When that came to an end, she took her Buick Roadmaster station wagon to Joshua Tree, where she lived with singer and songwriter Victoria Williams for four years. Sadler’s resourcefulness regarding living situations is a trait of many drifters, vagabonds, and artists.

In West Philly, roughly thirteen years ago, she lived in a punk house. She described it as  “A place where like-minded people that typically share a disdain for the status quo and [are] anti-establishment live together for cheap rent.” It wasn’t a squat, although she says a lot of punk houses can be. She describes it as a large house with spotty electricity and water. An open-door policy is a common theme for punk houses: “If I have this, then so can you. That is punk rock,” she comments. //

---

---

For full text and images, consider reading RQ in print, on a Sunday afternoon, sun streaming through your window, coffee in hand, and nary a phone alert within sight or in earshot… just fine words, fine design, and the opportunity to make a stitch in time. // Subscribe or buy a single issue today. // Print is dead. Long live print. //